Long Pond man pleads guilty in death of 16-month-old son; awaits sentencing

Saturday

Oct 6, 2012 at 12:01 AM

A Long Pond man is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to driving under the influence, killing his 16-month-old son and falsely incriminating someone else in the fatal crash, court records show.

ANDREW SCOTT

A Long Pond man is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to driving under the influence, killing his 16-month-old son and falsely incriminating someone else in the fatal crash, court records show.

Stroudsburg High School graduate Christopher Thomas, 22, of Long Pond, the Pocono Record's 2007 High School Football Player of the Year, pleaded guilty this week in the Dec. 10, 2011, death of his son, Dimitrius Thomas, on Route 611 in Tannersville.

Facing one to two years in Monroe County Correctional Facility, Thomas initially said a passenger was the one who crashed the car and that he wasn't in the car at all at the time.

Pocono Township Police gave the following account:

Thomas was driving a 2004 Nissan Sentra that night with his friend, Maude Revolus, in the front passenger seat.

In the back seat were two girls, ages 16 and 5, and Thomas' son, Dimitrius, who was in a rear-facing child safety seat directly behind Revolus.

Thomas turned right out of the Weis Market parking lot onto Route 611 South. At the Fish Hill Road intersection, he made a quick left turn into the path of an oncoming 2006 Jeep Cherokee.

The Jeep could not stop in time and hit the Nissan in the rear passenger side, where Dimitrius was.

Immediately after the crash, Thomas exited the vehicle, put the 16-year-old back-seat passenger in the driver seat and told her, "You were the driver."

When police arrived, Thomas was standing with a crowd of spectators.

He identified himself as Dimitrius' father, but not as an occupant in the Nissan, and tried to distance himself from the crash, but later said he had been a back-seat passenger in the Nissan.

Thomas was not treated for any injuries, while Dimitrius was flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital, where he died the next day, and the other passengers were taken to Pocono Medical Center.

Revolus and the 16-year-old passenger later told police Thomas had been the one driving, that he had put the teenager in the driver seat right after the crash and that he had been drinking prior to the crash.

Thomas later admitted this and was charged afterward. He was still in pre-trial detention in county jail as of Friday, awaiting sentencing at a future date.